


All Guts and Heart

by grubbies



Category: Beauty and the Beast - All Media Types, Venom (Comics), Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Animal Death, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Cannibalism, Character Death, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, Mild Character Bashing, Mutual Pining, Other, Porn with Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-07 02:40:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18401471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grubbies/pseuds/grubbies
Summary: “wh-why? What do you w-want with me?” and then “if not - if not to eat me?”Venom wants to cry, like Eddie’s doing. And even more, He wants to lick those tears off of his flushed cheeks.“Alone”He says, voice full of weight.“Yeah” he whispers.“Yeah”“I am alone. Want… want you to stay. Stay”.Until now, Eddie’s hand’s been limp in His - now He feels the man’s fingers clutch Him, dig into the liquid blackness of His horrible excuse for a form.“And then we wouldn’t be alone anymore…”(Or: How has no one done a Venom / Beauty and the Beast AU?)





	All Guts and Heart

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm finally writing a Venom thing that isn't part of my [ongoing(ish) series](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1201072)  
> i was really surprised that no one seems to have done a beauty and the beast Venom? i mean maybe 's just _too_ on the nose, but i just had to.  
> <3
> 
> anyway, this ended up way way _way_ longer than I meant for it to be, and I probably should have actually done like... chapters... but I'm a bad person, so here we are. 
> 
> read the end notes for info about that character death / char bashing tag ( 's not really a spoiler, but...)

* * *

 

 

 

 

The village library is small and dark and smells like mildew, but Eddie’s learned to prefer it this way. He used to think it was very lonely, but - but it’s worse to feel alone surrounded by people.

Well, Anne is here now, _and I don’t feel alone, I don’t feel alone, I don’t feel alone when she’s here,_ he tells himself over and over again, like a mantra. She sighs, and the light from the small window falls over her, a perfect illumination - like an angel’s halo. _She must be very beautiful,_ and then he catches the thought, corrects himself -   _she is very beautiful_.

She smiles as she looks up from the newest draft of his manuscript. “This part you added about the role of the church is fascinating! Though, I wonder, isn’t it a bit heavy handed?”

 _No._ “I don’t think so. As far as I see, there’s more danger in underplaying the role of the catholic church in economic hegemony” _among other kinds of oppression._

She nods. But she doesn’t understand, he thinks. “Oh Eddie”, she reaches across the table and strokes his cheek, and he tries not to tense up under her touch, “I can’t wait”.

He’d like to think she’s talking about him finally finishing _A Treatise on Freedom, Vulnerability, and Capitol_ , but he knows she means -

“Only one more week until we’re married”

 

* * *

 

 

It isn’t much of a life - isolated, stuck in this little town, surrounded by a forest that the others whisper about. A forest that, according to legend, are full of monsters that’ll eat you up. Barely anyone comes, and no one goes, not really.

Eddie wants to, more than he wants _anything._ Almost like that forest is calling to him.

The people here are small, heartless.

He hates them.

He’s young, and there’s a world to see. A world full of people who might -  people who might understand him, better than the ones here.

But he doesn’t leave. He goes to church. He kisses Anne on her cheek when they part ways. He takes care of the farm. He bites his tongue. He doesn’t stand up to _sir fucking perfect_ Peter Parker, everyone’s golden boy. He doesn’t stand up to his father. He’s _good._

He doesn’t leave.

 

* * *

 

 

The sun is low on the horizon, and any meager warmth it may have brought is evaporating off the snowy ground as it sets. Eddie watches the chickens huddle close, pressed into one another's’ feathers. _Wish I had someone to - -_ _no,_ no it’s not the time for that thought.

He glances back at the house - it’s cold out, yes, but he can linger a few moments longer, he thinks, without risking freezing his skin. _Rather frostbite than see how much the old man’s drank already._

He scatters more seed on the ground.

 

Eddie burns dinner that night, and he expects to get at the very least a slap in the face when Carl tastes it, but he just grumbles. “Good thing you’ll have a women to do the cooking soon, ay son?”

Eddie looks down in an effort to hide his grimace “Y-yeah”. He’d hoped ( _no, worried. Not hoped_ ) that the prospect of her crotchety father in law living with them would have put Anne off the idea of marrying him. But instead she’d cupped his cheek and said, voice soft, ‘I don’t mind taking care of our family’ - giving as ever.

Carl shoots him a distasteful look that he knows well. “You better not fuck this up again, you hear, Edward?”

The wind howls against the door. “I won’t” he scowls as he sets their bowls of stew on the table. He’s sure it must be warmer out in the snow and the darkness than in this house. He’s sure. His father grumbles grace, and he goes through the motions. Feels monstrous as any other night. “Amen”

“One week”

 

* * *

 

 

Here’s the thing, about Eddie Brock - every big decision he’s ever made has been - well, not really a decision. He’ll think and think and think until he’s all thought out, but then when the time comes, he doesn’t think at all - then it’s all guts and heart.

Like when he writes, _the one thing I’m any fucking good at, and even then -_ when he writes, all the ideas he’d mapped out so intricately in his head the night before are _gone_ and he just vomits words onto the paper. Or like with Anne - sure when it comes right down to it she’d courted _him_ , a little odd for a woman of the time, but still there had been a crossroads, a time when Edde had had to decide whether or not to pursue her. And He’d run through it in his mind and thought _‘I can get away with being unwed for a few more years… no one’ll know that I’m… I can get away with it’._ And then a few days after he was so _sure_ he’d made a final call, she’d taken his hand when Parker had accused him of… _sin…_ and said ‘well Eddie certainly kisses _me_ like he’s interested in women’. He’d proposed to her that night. Not thought, just instinct. Bad instinct, maybe, but it was all in the moment.

And then like right now, in the frigid not-quite-yet-morning air, as he slinks out the window.  

He’d decided a thousand times to stay, to tough it out.

But decisions are dead and the heart is alive. Beating loud in his chest as he heads past the borders of their land and past the borders of the town and past anywhere he recognizes. He’s not scared. He’s been terrified as long as he can remember, but here, with the dark twisting trees and the foreboding paths winding like a maze and the knowledge that with each passing moment he loses any ability to go back - he’s not scared.

_Fuck you, dad._

 

He wonders, distantly, if his father’ll miss him at all. If Carl Brock will feel some sadness, at least some guilt. Their family is born in guilt, it’s in their blood. So he must. _Maybe,_ Eddie thinks, _maybe he’ll just miss having someone to push around._

He knows Anne will miss him, and he feels bad about that. At first, he’d thought she’d just taken pity on him - all the… rumors… about his… preclusions. The way the others jeered at him, the way he cried in the pews at mass - he figured she just pitied him. It would have been easier, that way. But she really _wanted_ him. They’d been friends for years, and in a lot of ways, he really does _care_ for Anne. But he doesn’t want to… to marry her. He _wishes_ to want to, but -

But instead he sits down on a mossy log, takes a break from the endless walking.

Eddie doesn’t know why everyone is so scared of these woods. Sure, they’re dark - _darker than they should be at noon_ \- but there aren’t any monsters around. Just the endless cold and a very, _very_ lonely feeling, but that’s nothing new.

It’s almost beautiful out here, Eddie thinks. At least more beautiful than anything in the village. The knotted limbs of trees, the bark that looks almost like solidified _ooze._ Strange iridescent flowers. It’s so peaceful. _Yeah, beautiful._

He doesn’t need to force himself to think it, either.

A bullfrog croaks in the distance, and the air smells like hope and loss and a coming storm.

He’s been out here for hours, but it only hits him now that he finally _left._ It’s supposed to feel huge and impossible, but it doesn’t. It feels easy.

 

* * *

 

 

By the end of the day, he’s exhausted - feet sore, legs threatening to buckle beneath him. He didn’t bring much, a leather flask of water and a pack of food and some items to pawn. A few favorite books and a copy of his best writing, a lighter coat in case all the walking offset the winter cold (it didn’t). But even with so little to carry, he feels like it’s a thousand pounds, and _God_ he just wants to _rest._

Hours ago he’d past fork, a sign for a trail to town, but he’d been passing plenty. Figured he could make it to the next before nightfall.

But now it’s twilight, darkness encroaching rapidly, and he hasn’t seen a single trace of humanity, let alone civilization, since.

In the distance, a wolf howls, long and sad.

Eddie’s cold. Tired.

 

About to pass out right there in the dirt when he sees it - a house, no a _mansion,_ a fucking _castle_ , up on the hill and surrounded by the darkest, strangest trees he’s even come across. Vines that look otherworldly. If he thought things through, if he were one for logic, he’d notice there aren’t any lights on. He doesn’t though, just heads up the path.

 

The doors tower above him, and, bigger than those on a church - they should be imposing but he almost feels… _beckoned in._ Which in its own right should feel like a threat, but he’s so _tired._

So he knocks against the wood, again and again and again. And when the doors open and there’s no one there, it’s the first time he stops to _think._

He walks in anyways.

 

The place smells like rot. Like _death._ Heavy air, pouring into Eddie’s lungs like water. Dark, and no warmer than the outside. No _different_ than the outside, really - the house is overgrown with vines, grass pushing through the floor, roof falling in.

_Door must’ve blown open - no one lives here._

But there’s a disused hearth, and he spies a corner that looks pretty shielded from the elements. It’s… it’s better than nothing.

 

Eddie’s been _alone_ his entire life. If there’s a word that describes him - that’s it. Like no one understands, no one really _knows_ him. Sure, people “know” Eddie Brock, talk to him, Anne even holds him close. But it’s like there’s this big hole in his chest, in his very _self._

It’s a constant of feeling, a chronic ache that he’s learned to live with. His only lifelong companion. He’s - he’s accepted it.

And that makes it really fucking _weird_ when it kind of… flickers. Waivers. Like for the tiniest fraction of a second the loneliness is gone and he’s not an empty _fucking black hole of a person_ anymore.

Then sleep takes him.

 

* * *

 

 

By the time Eddie wakes up, it must be nearly midday.  The sun is beating down on him through the gaps in the ceiling, a terrible contrast of yellow warmth against the cold air. Everything is sore, his back stiff from sleeping on the hard ground.

He feels better than he’s ever felt in his life.

Everything hurts, and for once it’s _actually_ his fault. It hurts because of _his_ choices.

He smiles.

 

But then, he can’t shake the feeling he’s being watched.

 

Well, turns out he is.

 

He’s unpacking his knapsack when he thinks he sees two big white eyes staring back at him from the shadows. Blinks and they’re gone.

 

And then he’s struggling to light a fire, burning his fingertips, winter winds blowing out the flames, when -

**“Stop that”**

Eddie practically jumps out of his skin.

 **“No Fire”** \- low like a growl, reverberating through his bones, through his soul.

Eddie looks around frantically. I _‘m losing my mind._ There’s no one here but him and the darkness.

Except that the darkness has a face again. Or at least a mouth - big and toothy.

He tries to scream, but it’s caught in his throat. Chokes on it. Comes out as tears instead. And then the darkness steps _towards_ him.

It’s… some kind of beast.

Eddie stumbles back, on his hands and ass now, until he’s against the wall. The thing doesn’t come any closer, just… looks him over.

He does the same.

The creature is - it looks like it’s falling apart, almost. Like a mess of bones and bodies and matted, bloody fur all bound together by oily, roiling blackness. Like every limb’s from something different. And then that _face-_ maw full of daggers and those bottomless, pearlescent eyes that follow his every movement.

And then Eddie notices his hand reaching out towards it - he pulls the treacherous thing back. Pushes his palms against the cold stone walls, some futile attempt to ground himself in reality. He blinks, and when he opens his eyes the beast’s still there, standing up straighter, taller, and He ( _He?_ ) cocks His head and He looks almost… like a - like a person.  

“Who are you?” he hears himself ask, and _fuck_ his voice is shaky.

He just stares at him for a few more moments. His gaze is almost… Eddie almost thinks _soft._ Almost, because that’d be fucked up, right?

He comes closer. Eddie swallows the lump in his throat. There are tears on his cheeks. “P-please” he sobs. “Please jusst…” he puts his hands up, and the thing actually stops. “Wh-who are you?” Distantly, he thinks, he should be saying ‘what’ - ‘what are you?’ but he doesn’t.

 **“We - I…”** He shifts around the edges of the room, slicks over the refuse, bones falling from His form and new ones swept up into it. He sounds unsteady and unsure. **“I am Venom”** He answers, after some time.

 _Venom…_ he can’t help but turn the word - the name -  over in his metaphorical hands, examining it. Can’t help the way the shape of it feels… familiar.

The monster swells up momentarily, but then, as if He senses Eddie’s fear, widdles Himself back down, smaller than He was, claws shrinking down, mouth closing over those fangs. **“Won’t - won’t hurt you”** He whispers, a small cracked down the middle sound.

He wills his voice to be steady, stable. Assertive. He fails, simpers out - “wh-where am I? What’s h-happening?”

The creature - Venom -  looks sympathetic. Almost. **“We… we are… this is… I’m** **_sorry”_ ** He blinks at him. Eddie feels a sea of emotions, waves rolling in his abdomen. **“Stop being scared. Stop. I won’t - won’t hurt you”** He growls again, and Eddie questions the sincerity of the confidence in His voice. And then he doesn’t question at all - **“Won’t hurt you, you are** **_mine_ ** **”**

A shiver goes through his whole body, down his spine and all through his lungs and then his heart flutters. Eddie notices his hand reaching out again, and this time he can’t manage to tug it back no matter how hard he tries. The thing approaches again. “P-please” he whines, unsure of what he’s asking for. “Please don’t… I - I d-didn’t know anyone was here, I c-c-can just go-”

 **“NO!”** the monster snarls, lurching towards him, but it stops when it sees him cowering. **“We won’t** **_hurt_ ** **you”** He insists. **“Mine.** **_Stay_ ** **”**

Eddie, God have mercy on his soul, feels himself nod. As if this thing is so reasonable. Sensing his… trust, maybe, He continues to close the space between them, arm outstretched like it’s mirroring his. Eddie tries not to cry.

 **“Won’t hurt you”** the beast repeats, claws scraping on the ground. He’s mere feet from Eddie now, could reach out and touch him if He wanted. Could kill him easily. Venom’s gaze rakes over him, slowly, like He’s devouring him. Eddie bites back a whimper - He’s practically drooling over him like a steak. And then His mouth falls open, long tongue lolling out, and Eddie scrambles back against the stone wall in fear. The beast looks so - so _hurt_. Licks His lips. Eddie shudders.

“You - you sure look like you might hurt me” he manages.

 **“** **_No_ ** **. You - you are different”**

Eddie watches, mesmerized, as the dark matter of His body builds up bigger, broader. More bones and detritus. Like He’s feeding off the death and decay and - “d-different? Different than - than what?” his voice is barely a whisper.

He swears the thing gulps. Looks - almost _embarrassed._ **“The others”** He motions around the room. To the _bodies._ **“You’re not like** **_them_ ** **. Won’t hurt you, won’t eat you”**

“Eat me?” Eddie squeaks. _Oh God the stories are true everyone was right._ But then, even now he can’t get himself to regret anything…

 **“I** **_won’t_ ** **”** He urges, words desperate. He’s so _close_ , now, almost looming over him. **“You are - you are different. Feel different.”**

Eddie nods again, short hurried little movements. “But you - you ate the others?” he tries to follow along.

 **“Yes”** the thing practically swims around him, cornering him. **“So** **_hungry._ ** **Starving. Always. Always starving. We need - don’t even have my own body”**

Eddie almost feels bad for Him. Which maybe explains (but certainly doesn’t justify) what he does next, by all measures insane. “I - I brought some food” he says, quiet and soft. “You could have some”. Before he knows it he’s opening his pack and taking out the stale biscuits and cured meats. Venom looks disinterested but His mouth turns up in a smile. Eddie takes out the apples, and still the creature seems unappetized. And then he takes out the small sack of chocolates, wrapped in paper, and He stutters, comes closer. Eddie almost laughs at the ridiculousness of it all, but instead he says “stole these from - from someone terrible” he scowls thinking about his father, and Venom’s gaze goes soft again, _would you look at that_. “They’re very treasured, only a treat for special occasions - do you - do you want them?”

 

Venom stares at the man in front of him; He wants to gobble him up, but it’s… different, than usual. A new kind of hunger. The man feels… feels like _Him._ Venom wants to rush to him, to grab him and hold him and never let him go. He wants to never be away from him, to consume him so that they can never be separated.

He wants to make them whole.

Instead, He reaches out, as slowly as He can manage with the storm inside Him urging Him to _hurry_ , to take everything. The human is holding out some strange food, and it’s not alive, but somehow Venom knows He wants it. So odd.

The man - **_does he have a name?_** \- drops all of the little spheres in His talon and pulls his hand back quickly. Venom feels monstrous.

 **“Don’t you want any? Aren’t you hungry?”** He holds the handful out like the pretty man had done. **“Share?”**

The poor thing nods, so terrified, and He wants to growl at him not to be, but somehow He doesn’t think that’ll help. Tentatively, the man takes one 'treat' from His hand, and then motions for Him to take the rest.

Venom devours them all in one bite. Later, He’ll remember that He’d been told they’re ‘treasured’ and ‘only for special occasions’, but now He’s _hungry._

They’re so _good._ Sweet.

The human, too, he must be good, and sweet. Venom can tell. Runs His tongue over His lips.

He urges him to eat his, watches expectantly as he places it in his mouth, chews and swallows. And then He can’t stop Himself - reaches out and touches the man’s hand, clawed fingers stroking his skin. Venom feels bad - the man’s shaking. **_Scared of me._ **

But he looks up into His eyes, and He _wants._

 **“Name?”** He says, and when the man looks confused, **“do you have a name?”**

He tries to speak once, twice, no sound comes out. Eventually he manages out “Eddie. I - I’m Eddie”

 **_Eddie. Eddie Eddie_ ** **“Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie”.** Even his name tastes sweet. **“Eddie”**

“Venom” he whispers, and He swells with happiness.

 **“You will stay”** He says, and He means it like a question, but He wonders if that’s how the human - _Eddie_ \- hears it. **“Mine”**

Eddie looks away from Him, then. “I…”

 **“** **_Please_ ** **”** Venom urges, tugging at his hand. **_Mine mine mine Eddie mine mine Eddie Eddie_ ** all swirled everywhere and He has to struggle to stop Himself from grabbing Eddie up right then and there. **“Please, please stay. Stay with me. Please”**

He watches him think this over. He wonders, if Eddie says ‘no’, if he wants to leave, will He let him? He feels bad, but He thinks He wouldn’t. Never gets to find out because instead Eddie says “wh-why? What do you w-want with me?” and then “if not - if not to _eat_ me?”

Venom wants to _cry_ , like Eddie’s doing. And even more, He wants to lick those tears off of his flushed cheeks. **“Alone”** He says, voice full of weight.

“Yeah” he whispers. “ _Yeah”_

 **“I am alone. Want… want you to stay. Stay”.** Until now, Eddie’s hand’s been limp in His - now He feels the man’s fingers clutch Him, dig into the liquid blackness of His horrible excuse for a form. “ **And then we wouldn’t be alone anymore…”** Eddie just nods, but Venom doesn’t need words. He understands. **“Like me, you’re like me. Belong here, belong with me. You belong to me, Eddie. Eddie, stay. Stay, won’t you stay?”**

“I - I don’t have anywhere else to go…”, and He thinks the man’s talking for himself, not to Him. Soon, Venom thinks, there will be no difference between the two. “I - I don’t - I can’t - just p-p-promise you won’t - promise again that you won’t hurt me?”

 **“Yes”** Venom says, as fast as He can manage. **“You will stay, can even - even light a fire. Humans need warmth. Be safe here, safe from everything. You can - stay. Stay”.**

 

There’s something wrong with him. _Something seriously fucking wrong in my head_ , he thinks, as he gathers moth-eaten blankets and any somewhat intact furs to make himself a little nest by the hearth. The creature - _Venom_ \- skulks around the darkness, sometimes seeming to leave the room, this part of the house, and then returning, just _watching_ him, silently.

Why had he said ‘yes’? What was he _thinking_ ? He should run as far as he can from that thing. Or at least, he should feel the kind of bubbling-up blood-red hot kind of rage he’d felt at the townsfolk, when the creature has called him _His_.

The thing is - he really, _really_ doesn’t feel that. He feels… it’s so _easy_ , to stay here with Venom.

Venom, who’s watching him poke at the shaking little flames struggling to light. Everything in here is damp, dank, decomposing. Heart-wrenchingly lonesome. It _hurts_ to imagine the life this creature leads, surrounded by nothing but death. He can’t help seeing himself in the Beast. **‘You belong with me** ’ He’d said, and those words had poured into the hollow in Eddie’s heart, puddled in that hole inside him.

In the end, like always, he hadn’t really _chosen_ to stay. Just - just suddenly the answer had tumbled out of his mouth and into existence. Felt right. No brain, all feeling. All want and need and emptiness. Felt _right._

 

* * *

 

 

Compared to the others of His kind, Venom’s always been weak, He knows that. But until recently, He was at least _capable._ Capable of dragging his rotting, haphazard amalgamation of a host around the forest and finding new food, new bodies. But it’s harder and harder. He’s so tired, so hungry.

So lonely.

He should have just listened to the others, stayed with them, learned to live like them. But He didn’t, and now He’s alone.

Well, not _now._

Now Eddie’s here. **_Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie._ ** Eddie’s _perfect._ He’d felt it the moment He saw him. Eddie’s like Him. No - no, Eddie’s much better. Good, sweet. Pretty and soft and **_oh_ **He wants to wrap him up safe. Wants to sink His claws and His teeth and and His very being into him. Eddie should be His.

And he’d actually stayed. Said _yes._ Maybe - maybe he’ll want to _bond,_ to -

Venom stops Himself. It’s not the time. He’s weak, now, needs to concentrate on the task at hand: Food. Hunting. Everything’s so much harder with each passing day, each passing host (or piece of a host that is, nothing is _whole_ ).

Eventually He manages to catch a deer, and even ravenous as He is He remembers to save some, the tenderest, tastiest parts, for His Eddie. Slinks into the room where the man’s huddled in the corner, eating the last of his bread and bruised fruit. Even helpless like this, Eddie is beautiful. He looks up at Him with his big blue eyes when he drops the meat on the floor in front of him. **“For you”** He says, blood dripping from His lips.

Eddie stares at Him, open mouthed. “Th-thought you’re always hungry?” he murmurs, and _oh_ how Venom wants him. “I - really it’s - it’s alright, I’ve had enough”.

 **“No”** , He insists, pushing the lump of viscera towards the man and then motioning at the dissued pots and pans sitting rusted by the fire. **“Eat. Eddie, Eddie needs to eat”.**  He feels a warm fluttery feeling fill Him when His little human actually _smiles_ , small and real.

Eddie cooks the meat slowly, and Venom watches, trying not to, as he calls it, ‘lurk’.

And once Eddie’s fed and warm, he says, “can I - can I look around? I didn’t manage, before falling asleep and the sun will be setting soon and -”

 **“You can do whatever you** **_want_ ** **”** Venom urges, heart breaking at the idea that Eddie feels… unfree. **_Eddie deserves anything, everything. Eddie. Eddie._ ** **“Freedom. Whatever you want”**

That earns Him another smile, bigger this time. “Yeah?”

**“Yeah”**

He’s silent for a beat, eyeing Venom as He comes out of the shadows. He tries not to be embarrassed of His disgusting, rotted body. Eddie had seemed horrified at first but now - “do you want to… to show me around? I wouldn’t want to get lost…”

 **“Yes”** the words come out too fast and much too eager.

 

Venom tries, as hard as He can, not to let Eddie see how much of a struggle it is for Him to shamble up the stairs, to even _walk._ He doesn’t want His new… companion… to know how _pathetic_ He is. Weak, a parasite living off the corpses of others, barely holding on and - “are you in pain?” Eddie asks, watching Him shudder and desperately try to hold Himself together

Venom tries, and apparently fails. But then Eddie puts his soft, pretty hand on His - His something-like-a-shoulder, and it’s more than alright that He’s failed.

 

Most of the house is utterly dilapidated, clearly long disused. There are beds, and Venom offers them to Eddie so earnestly, but he just takes some of the less mildew-y pillows to add to his little huddle.

They find one kitchen, and then another, and He watches Eddie mark them down, ‘for later’.

 **_‘For later’ means he wants to stay._ ** 

In general, the rooms are of little interest though. That is, until they get to the library. Venom used to enjoy it here immensely, would spend days upon days here, pouring over the stories the long-dead humans had left here. But now - now His head’s too cloudy to read, and His limbs are too sore to climb the stairs, and so He never comes to this place.

But then, Eddie’s here now. And his perfect blue eyes light up at the sight. “Oh God” he gasps, and Venom is filled with a giddy rush, a hurricane of feelings - the idea that He’s made Eddie happy… it’s almost drugging. “This is beautiful!” he sighs, and He wants to say **‘you’re beautiful** ’ but He doesn’t.

Instead He says **“All for you, Eddie. For** **_you_ ** **”,** voice soft, and He has to hold Himself back from wrapping Himself around the man right then. From holding his hand in His. **_Eddie, my Eddie. Mine._ ** Just a day ago, He’d been so close to giving up, to just stopping, _dying._ And then Eddie had just… _walked in._ And layed down. And said ‘yes’. And Venom can’t believe it. **_Eddie. Eddie. Mine now. Eddie._ **

And then when they leave, when it’s dark out and Eddie’s yawning and Venom’s appetite once again is growing loud and demanding, He helps him carry his stack of books down with him, and Eddie says ‘lean on me?’ when he can see Venom can barely stand.

 

* * *

 

 

The next few days mostly blur together. Eddie thinks it’s been about a week, when the first new _person_ comes. By now he’s seen Venom devour all types of animals - rabbits and deer and bears and wolves. He’s watched Him gut them, lap up blood, hunt and kill and wound. With each passing day, it’s seemed less and less beastly

But now a woman, a _human_ , walks down the path towards the house.

Venom whispers **_‘sorry_ ** ’ and the first thing Eddie thinks is honestly that Venom must not _want_ him anymore, that before him He’d had another little pet human and then just as Eddie’d come He’d eaten them and now this woman’s here and Venom must not _want_ him.

Well, that’s not it.

Not even close.

The stranger doesn’t even make it through the doorway before Venom is on her, all claws and teeth and _hunger_ and Eddie wishes that he was a little more disgusted at the sight of Him, soaked in red. Intestines strewn about the floor, screams lingering in the air. Wishes it was nausea he felt in the pit of his stomach and not… something else…

What Venom doesn’t eat, He devours in whole other way - limbs tucked into His form, bones building a new skeleton. Eddie wishes and wishes and wishes to find it horrific, but instead, after the whole ordeal is over, he strokes his fingers through the monster’s inky blackness. Says “ ‘m just glad you’re feeling better”, and Venom tugs him close against His chest, and tangles a claw through his hair, and Eddie’s learning to like the smell of rot.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s a stormy day soon after, and Eddie’s laying in his little nest half asleep, drooling on the book he’s 'reading'.

Venom slinks over and curls up next to him, and he can’t help but be happy for the company. The beast is - He’s nice, to be around. Even when they’re not talking, even when He’s just sitting there beside him silently, staring at him with those endless iridescent eyes in a way that should be creepy but isn’t. He’s nice to be around.

Like His very presence is calming to Eddie. He can’t imagine how he ever managed without Him. It’s terrifying, the constant desire to be close to Him, to never be apart for so much as a moment.

Not that they ever are, anymore.

Even at night, even in sleep, they’re together. It was the nightmares that did it, the first time at least. Eddie had woken up sobbing, clutching his chest, couldn’t _breath_ , and then Venom had been there in an instant, pouring forth from the dark recesses of the room and holding him, cooing softly **‘safe, safe now. Eddie, Eddie. Safe, mine, mine. Safe, Eddie. Safe now”** over and over until Eddie’s heart had quieted.

Venom doesn’t need to sleep much, but each and every night He’ll weave Himself through the shadows at the edge of Eddie’s makeshift bed, curled protectively around him, a comforting presence, always together. Sometimes, just as Eddie’s about to drift off, he’ll reach out a hand, and the shadows will reach back, lacing fingers through his, and neither of them wake up screaming anymore.

So then right now, not really falling asleep but not so awake either, Eddie reaches out a hand, and smiles as he feels little tendrils of darkness ghost over his skin.

“Hello there” he breathes, and affection spills into him where they touch.

 

 **“Read to me, Eddie?”** He moves closer, until He could wrap His inhuman, decaying limbs around him, like how one might hold a - a loved one. He doesn’t though. _Can’t._ Just asks again, **“Read to me?”**

Eddie rolls over onto his back and gazes up at Him, and there’s such _longing_ there. Venom wants to drink it in. “Can you read?” he asks, curiosity mixed into that voice like honey. But all of Eddie’s sweetness isn’t enough to offset the bitter feelings that saturate Him, then.

 **“Can… Used to be able to. I -”** words and stories are so important to Eddie, He feels pitiful and miserable that He’s too weak to share them with him. **“So** **_hungry_ ** **now - my head is - is foggy. I can’t…”**

Eddie cups His face in his hand, palm soft, and Venom wants to melt into him, to slip beneath the surface. “It’s alright, it’s alright” he murmurs, and it is, isn’t it? “C’mere, I can read enough for the both of us”

 

All in all, Eddie thinks, he’s adjusted well to his new life as a monster’s… pet. Probably _too_ well.

 

* * *

 

 

Occasionally, Eddie’ll think about Anne.

Or, well, he’ll think about how he’s not thinking about Anne enough, and then he’ll tell himself he misses her over and over again until he actually kind of believes it.

 

And then that illusion is thoroughly shattered.

 

The sky out here is always beautiful - above the scraggly trees, no clouds over the vast expanse of frost and frigid earth and dying moss. One evening Eddie finds himself wandering farther from the house than he thinks, maybe, he’s ‘allowed to’, but he’s a little out of it, a little enamoured with the falling diamonds, shooting overhead. _Make a wish_ , he thinks, but then he realizes that for once he doesn’t have a lot to wish _for_.

Keeps walking anyway, a little absent minded.

Only comes to his senses when he’s somewhere utterly unfamiliar. Venom had told him to _stay_ , and he can’t even do that right?

It’s getting dark, and it’s getting cold. It’s always cold, even worse up here in the mountains, all the trees dead and dried and failing to stop the wind howling over the hills. But right now it’s getting _colder_ , and the snow is swirling around him, and when he turns and looks back in the direction he’d come from, there’s nothing but whiteness.

But even so he starts heading back, as best he can at least, praying he’s going in the right direction. He knows he should be able to see the spires of the mansion, black and rotted and towering over the hills, but he _can’t_ , just the storm - everywhere. Eddie’s shaking.

He wants - “Venom? Venom, where are you?” he calls, voice unsteady. Of course He’s not here - Eddie’s _alone._ Limbs so tired and heart jackrabbiting. He reasons that there’s nothing to be scared of, it’s just the same woods he’d travelled though to get here, the woods that had lead him to the Other, to _home._

God he just wants to be home.

_There’s nothing to be scared of, nothing to be scared of, stop this neediness. Nothing to be scared of -_

And then he hears the howling.

Long, hollow, sorrowful sounds that surround Eddie and wash through his bones. He quickens his pace, but it doesn’t feel like he’s _getting_ anywhere. He’s never been good at being alone, but _God_ he sure has gotten used to leaning on Venom, to letting Him do everything for him. Now Eddie feels completely helpless on his own. No sharp teeth or claws or -

_Fuck. Fuck Fuck Fuck._

There are some sharp teeth and claws. Wolves, circling around him, fangs bared and growls everywhere. Eddie’s frozen in place. Fear forming a lump in his throat. _Venom? Where are you? Oh Venom, please -_

The circle of predators is closer, closer…

Eddie’s crying now.

 _This is what I get for leaving - disobeying - Venom told me to stay, should’ve just done what He said, would that have been so hard?_ And now his new, strange, horrifying happiness is going to all be _gone._

A wolf lunges and him, and Eddie flinches, but then everything fades to _pain_ . White hot, freezing cold, overwhelming searing pain where those claws rip into his flesh. _I’m going to die I’m going to die here and I never even told Him -_

But then he’s hit with a rush of feelings.

Opens his eyes, and Venom _here._ The pack leader’s ripped off of him, thrown back against a rock. Eddie watches, stunned, as his Monster slaughters them all. Rage and righteousness and the crimson heavy suffocating weight of His _want_ . He’s growling, more animalistic, more _beastly,_ than Eddie’s ever seen Him, and he tries to quell the coiling heat in his gut that he _knows_ is so sinful but all that rage is for _him_ and Eddie can’t help how good it feels. “Venom…” he hears himself whisper, and then He turns to him, eyes ablaze.

The last of the animals are dead, organs on Venom’s lips, and now He reaches to him. Eddie whimpers, pain coming back, and then He’s holding him everywhere, clutching him close and stroking him. Comforting, oh so comforting. He rumbles, over and over, **“Eddie. Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie. Eddie Eddie. My Eddie”** not even really _words_ just a feeling he wants to drown in. **“Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie”**

“I’m sorry I’m so _sorry_ , I left I -” and he’s stunned into silence when he feels the wounds covering him _healing_.

 **“No apologies”** He sobs, breath hot against Eddie’s cheek. **“No sorry. Eddie. Eddie Eddie Eddie”**

Eddie stares up at Him, hands where His cheeks would be, and later he’ll chastise himself for not stopping, but now -

Now Venom _kisses_ him.

Sharp teeth scraping against his lips, one enormous hand on his hip and the other tugging on a tuft of hair to angle him how Venom wants. That long prehensile tongue working down his throat, and Eddie’s _moaning._

They kiss for what feels like an eternity. It’s much too short.

When their mouths part, he leans his forehead against His, and whispers, “thank you, thank you, thank you” voice ever tender, and He scoops him up and carries him home, renewed strength found in fury and feast.

 

Venom is especially… protective, that night.

He doesn’t linger at the edges of Eddie’s bed, doesn’t limit Himself to just tiny ghosts of touches. No, now He curls Himself around Eddie, holds him as tight as He can without being worried about crushing his fragile bones, and even then He might be holding a _little_ too tight. And Eddie holds Him back, face nuzzled into His flesh, and Venom thinks it’s a miracle that He manages to stop Himself from pouring into His darling, from filling up all the emptiness inside him and taking him for Himself, for forever.

It’s enormous, how _terrified_ He’d felt, at the thought of losing His little human. He used to be so adamant that the rest of them were wrong - that to want this isn’t weakness. But it turns out they were right, doesn’t it? He’d do anything, for Eddie. Kill for him, yes, but _die_ for him too. It’s not even a question. Eddie is His weakness, but of all the weaknesses to have, he must be the best one.

Next to Him, he sighs softly, just fallen asleep, and Venom wants more than anything to kiss him again.

 

* * *

 

 

He tries, in the morning.

Eddie wakes slowly, grey light falling over him illuminating the dusty air, his chest rising and falling, and he blinks up at Venom. Strokes down His neck with the back of his knuckles. And so He smiles, big and affectionate and so full of longing. And then He leans down, and His eyes flutter shut and -

“No” Eddie whispers, voice shattered. He’s turned away, cheek pressed into the moth-eaten pillow, looking to the side and expression dark and tense. His hands have made their way to Venom’s almost-a-torso, pushing Him _away._

Venom’s almost-a-heart breaks.

“We - we can’t _do_ that” Eddie rasps, and He can smell salt and sorrow in the air. “It was - yesterday that was… that was just to heal me, _right?_ ” his words are forced, stab through Venom like knives.

**“Eddie…”**

He takes his hand, and Eddie jerks away. Sits up and stares past Him at the dwindling embers in the fireplace. He wants at once to grab His beauty and press His mouth to his and to hold him and hold him and hold him until he doesn’t say ‘we can’t’ anymore, and then also to cry, to apologize, to promise to never touch him with His monstrous body again. Instead He does nothing, and Eddie leaves the bed and heads to the kitchen, silent and far away.

 

Eddie imagines beating himself against the stone of the countertop. Imagines stoking the flames of the wood-fired oven, perfectly head-height in the wall, and then burning off his lips and his fingertips and even his _heart,_ everywhere that had longed to touch Venom this morning.

He feels disgusting. Beastly.

Everything the others had said about him, his father, Peter, all of them - _are they right? Could they be?_ He curls up in a ball in the corner and weeps. He tells himself it’s just because Venom’s the only person ( _the only thing, the only thing, He’s not human He’s a thing and I’m a monster_ ) here with him, that he’s just pathetic lonely Eddie as always and that it’s just - it’s been a long while and he’s yearning for touch.

But that’s a lie, and he knows it, and he weeps and he weeps and he weeps.

 

The day’s spent forcing himself to think of Anne and trying over and over again not to burn biscuits (it ended up taking three tries for them to even be edible, so fucking _distracted_ ).

But then, sun setting and feelings all a tsunami, he finds Venom curled in his - _their?_ \- bed, looking so _hurt._ And Eddie hates himself in a new, different way that’s somehow even worse than the sin, but he doesn’t go to Him, doesn’t offer Him anything to eat, doesn’t hold Him close like he longs to.

 

* * *

 

 

Two more days like that - avoiding one another, swallowing feelings down until they’re heavy like lead in each of their stomachs. Two more nights of sleeping alone.

 

But then Eddie wakes in the night to pained sounds, desperate noises choked from the shadows, and he feels them in his heart. Scrambles to his feet and rushes to follow, not even thinking. All feeling.

_Venom Venom Venom - oh Venom -_

He doesn’t even remember _moving_ , just suddenly finds himself clutching a mass of darkness in his arms, claws tangled in his hair, His face rubbing into the crook of his neck, form building up against his, pain awash everywhere and - “Venom, Venom, I’m here. Shh shh, I’m here, I’ve got you, shhh it’ll be alright darling, don’t cry”

And he doesn’t chose to, but he does it all the same - presses his lips against his beast’s forehead, His cheek. His lips.

Venom tugs him against Himself, oily tendrils spilling over him, touching everywhere, and Eddie feels invaded. He feels good. For a while they just stay like that, kissing anywhere their lips fall, wordless and breathless and most importantly thoughtless. And then Venom’s leaning His forehead against Eddie’s, clutching his hand in His. **“Dreamt you left us, Eddie - dreamt you** **_left_ ** **. I can’t - wouldn’t know how to - Eddie, we** **_need_ ** **you. Can’t be without you, can’t be -”**

He kisses Venom again, and again, and “ ‘s alright. I won’t be going anywhere. I’m all yours, I promise”. The monster seems to calm, at that. His shaking lessens, and the tendrils snaking over Eddie’s skin become less desperate and more gentle. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Come to bed?” He knows that sounds like something a wife might say to a husband, but he says it all the same.

He doesn’t feel ashamed.

 **“Only wanted to be close, Eddie… didn’t mean to touch you, to** **_hurt_ ** **you, I-”**

“No, no!” and now he feels a little ashamed. “No, darling I just - I never should have acted like… oh Venom I only want to be close too”. He kisses the corner of His jaw, the spot where His temple would be.

Venom cuddles him close, and Eddie’s pretty sure there are more than two arms holding him, but he can’t find it in him to mind. **“Eddie… Eddie my beauty… you said… don’t want to** **_hurt_ ** **you”** He whispers, and the words sound pained.

“That was only… that’s a - a stupid human rule, I don't - we can - ”

 **“Eddie… Eddie you’re** **_human_ ** **, if you need -”**

“No!” the word spills from his mouth like a waterfall. “I… it’s…” he looks up at Venom, eyes searching His -  finds what he’s looking for. “There’s no one here to force us to follow those rules, is there?” and before he knows it they’re kissing again.

 

* * *

 

 

They don’t stop.

 

After that, things are different.

Easier. Better.

Before, Eddie would flush and turn away when their touches would become too intimate. When they would lay together and he’d read to Him, Venom had always had to hold Himself back from wrapping Eddie up safe and _holding_ him, had known it would only bring His treasure pain.

Not anymore.

Now they get to be _close._ Venom is utterly elated.

 

* * *

 

 

They’re laying out on the brown, dead grass, watching the sun rise. It should be cold, for His poor little mortal, but He keeps him warm. He’s starving, and it’s a waste of His limited energy, but He likes this. These moments of vulnerability.

“You’ve never told me about where you come from” Eddie murmurs, a hand cradled in His, fingers woven together. “you don’t - I understand, if you do not want to, it’s only that I… I want to know you…” his voice is soft like sugar. Venom wants to devour him in all the best ways.

 **“Oh** **_Eddie_ ** **”** He rumbles. He’s saturated, _overflowing_ with bliss. **“Eddie Eddie, want to share everything with you”**

His little human laughs softly, leans his head against Him. “I want to share everything with you as well” he breathes.

Venom’s glowing and smiling and swelling with tenderness, but then the reality comes back to Him. **“But… oh Eddie… you’ll… you won’t** **_like_ ** **it. Won’t -”**

“Oh… oh sweetheart, of course that’s not true” he whispers. Eddie is so kind, so good. Venom doesn’t deserve him. “There’s not a thing you could tell me that would make me dislike you”. Venom wants to melt.

He starts slowly. **“ **We were born of the darkness and shadows** ”. ** He watches Eddie nod along. **“ **There used to be many of us. So many, a swarm, a hourd** ”**

His little human strokes His cheek with his thumb and smiles at Him. “Oh darling” he exhales.

 **_Eddie. Eddie Eddie._ ** He kisses his cheek. **“The others are all gone now”** He says, and he watches sorrow fall over the Other’s face.

“Where’d they go?”

Venom wishes, maybe, that He’d never started his story. **“We… symbiotes always… we do not stay anywhere very long. The swarm travels, consumes all the life out of a place until it is dead, no sustenance left, and then they move on”.** He hasn’t thought about them this deeply for a long, _long_ time. **“They are all gone now, moved on, left this land barren”.**

Eddie looks around at the dry, black trees, the desolate earth. “Why did they leave you behind?” his voice sounds full of sadness. Venom feels bad. “They - they abandoned you?”

He’s silent for a moment. He knows what to say, but he can’t imagine how to arrange the words with enough softness to offer them to His beauty. Instead, He presses His lips against Eddie’s, drinking in the soft taste of **_Eddie Eddie Eddie._ ** The man’s hands roam Him, tugging Him close. Venom feels… _wanted._ When their mouths part, Eddie’s eyes shimmer, and Venom hopes His story doesn’t bring tears to them. **“I was - I’m not like them”** He says, words undecorated. **“They - they take hosts like… just like skin. Like they’re nothing. I wanted - I** **_want_ ** **-”**

“- to be close” Eddie whispers, and if Venom didn’t know better He would think they were His words infecting His pretty human.

He nods. **“I want to be close”**

Eddie swallows, and bites his lip.

 **“They - they always detested me. Thought me weak and disgusting. Left me here to rot, cursed me to this** **_loneliness_ ** **”**

The tears are there now - Eddie’s stubbled cheeks are red and wet, his hands shake where they clutch Him, fingers buried in the slick blackness of His form. He tries to speak and chokes on the words.

 **_“Eddie…”_ **it shocks Him how soft His voice sounds.

“My Sweetheart…” he strokes His cheek. “Why haven’t you _left?_ This land is dead, you’re - you’re starving, why -”

 **“Too** **_weak_ ** **. Need a real host, not just these corpses. I can’t… Eddie I - I can’t… I can’t** **_leave._ ** **Please, swear you won’t leave me alone, promise, promise Eddie. You’re mine, oh Edde. Mine, mine, mine, mine”**

“Yes” he whispers, full of conviction. “Always yours”

Venom knows He shouldn’t, but He actually lets Himself believe it.

 

They stay there for hours, basking in the morning sun that should be warm but isn’t. It’s ok, there’s plenty of warmth between them.

Eddie runs Venom’s story over and over and over in his mind, in his _heart._ It’s so… _God_ it’s so familiar. **_‘They always detested me’_ ** and _oh_ if he can’t relate to that…  

He’d told his monster, very vaguely, about the world he’d come from, and Venom had snarled and whispered a thousand oaths of retribution, sworn to kill all of them. Eddie had thought He was just being protective as usual, but he understands the depths better now.

There’s no difference between them.

There’s no _space_ between them.

 

* * *

 

 

Venom clutches him close, talons digging into his flesh, face pressed against his neck with that long tongue lapping at his skin. His enormous form is shaking, pain radiating off of Him in waves. **“So hungry, Eddie”** He’s practically sobbing. **“Eddie, so hungry Eddie. It** **_hurts_ ** **”**.

“It'll be alright” he coos, trying to force his voice to sound soothing, but he can't quite get it right. He pets Venom softly, delicately. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry. I promise, we’ll find a way to make it alright. I promise, I promise”

They kiss for hours, until the beast isn’t crying anymore, but Eddie can still feel His suffering sticking to his skin.

 

* * *

 

 

Really, this was only ever an eventuality. A matter of when, not if.

 

Venom’s just come home from a long, exhausting hunt. Most of the deer have left long ago, only the few rare straglers passing through, and Eddie’d been waiting so long he was starting to get worried by the time his darling had returned.

But now He walks into the room, and Eddie’s so relieved he can taste it. Even seconds apart feel much too long - hours are absolute torture. The sun’s long set, and His form is illuminated only by the tiny flames flickering in the hearth (flames Venom no longer fears). He weaves through the darkness, snaking around Eddie and grinning, _almost predatory_ , mouth dripping with gore. Eddie can smell blood in the air, and he can feel heat growing in his abdomen.

“Come here” he hears himself murmur, reaching up to cup His cheeks and pull Him closer. “Come here my only”

He rumbles, that very particular expression of being well-fed, satisfied, but then Eddie can see a different hunger in His opal eyes. Their lips press together, and he can taste iron and death on Him.

It’s delicious.

Venom’s tugging Eddie close over and over, rubbing him against Himself almost rhythmically. The man’s breathless, choking on His tongue, stained red, moaning like a dying man. Hands are everywhere, grabbing and groping and feeling everything.

This was always just over the horizon.

Before Eddie knows it, he finds himself on his back, his beast looming over him, staring down at him all admiring and possessive. Something like a leg fitted perfectly between his thighs, and he can’t seem to stop himself from rutting against it.

This is all new - Eddie’s never been with anyone. Anne had been open about what she’d wanted, always progressive for women of the time, but Eddie had said ‘let’s wait for our wedding night’. Bought himself some time, maybe.

For months now, in those few terrible moments Eddie will find them separated, his thought have more and more drifted to _this._ He’ll take himself in hand, and force himself over and over to think of his ( _ex?_ ) fiance. But then once he’s turned on enough, he’ll let his dreams slip back to _Venom Venom Venom Venom._

 **“Eddie Eddie”** His voice is heavy on the side of his face, and His tongue runs slowly and deliberately over his cheek. **“You taste so sweet, my Eddie”.**

He whimpers, but it isn’t out of fear. “Are you going to devour me now? To gobble me up?” and Venom looks so _euphoric_. There’s a sea of heat, like the tide lapping at them

And then everything falls silent. Their foreheads rest together. Still too much space in between them. Eddie swallows, his heart welling up in his chest. He’s suddenly very aware of the blush of his cheeks. As well as - he’s just wearing his thin linen sleeping pants, and they’re doing nothing to hide the erection between his legs.

This was only ever and eventuality.

The have a choice. They could stop. Curl up together and fall asleep. They could hold off a little longer, Eddie could maintain the last semblance of human, _correct_ sexuality. He’s always been good at denying himself happiness. It’s _easy,_ horribly easy, to hurt himself. He… he’s always deserved it. But Venom… his sweet Venom… Eddie can’t imagine hurting Him. All He wants is to be _close_ , and for once Eddie lets himself accept that that's all he wants too. For once -

 **“Eddie** ” He strokes his cheek with a claw, ever tender. **“Eddie, there’s no one here. To force us to follow those rules”** His voice is shaking, and God help him, Eddie nods.

“Oh sweetheart. Yes, no one here but us”

 **_“We”_ **He purrs, and now they’ve reached the horizon. It’s a beautiful kind of dark.

 

Venom’s gaze dances over His treasure, laid out below Him. He can practically smell the desire dripping off of him, wants to drink it in like nectar. Eddie is so _pretty._

Before He knows it, Venom finds Himself kissing all over him, mouth trailing everywhere. Eddie's flesh is goosepimpled, but He thinks that it isn't from the chill in the air. “Darling, oh _darling_ ” He hears Eddie whine, and it amazes Him that His touch could make him sound so breathless. “Darling, darling, darling, darling”.

Venom never feels monstrous when Eddie calls to Him like that.

His broken-glass teeth scrape the skin over his collarbone, and when Eddie angles himself to offer his neck up, rather than jerking away, Venom can't help it. Sinks his fangs into Eddie’s  flesh. Just a little, just enough to feel him writhing beneath Him, but it isn't to get away.

He’s never going to let Eddie get away.

“Venom” he breathes, and when He pulls his maw away from his neck to instead kiss him, red pours down his chest. His tongue is coated in Eddie’s own blood as it pushed past his parted lips, but he opens up anyway. So open. So welcoming. Venom wants him so badly.

They kiss and kiss and kiss, until He can feel Eddie gagging around him, choking, breathless. And then a few moments longer. When they break apart, Eddie’s cheeks are flush and his pupils are blown. His sweet is always beautiful but now - Venom thinks right now he’s a vision of heaven. **“Mine.** **_Mine_ ** **”**

“Yours”. Eddie’s legs are spread, and Venom can feel how hard he’s grown where He presses against his pelvis. “Y-yours, yours always” he repeats, almost like he’s hypnotised, tears in the corners of his ocean eyes.

One clawed hand runs over the length of him through the threadbare fabric. He twitches beneath His touch, so warm, and Venom feels a sickly saccharine feeling coiling in His core.

Eddie’s soft hand strokes His face, lingers at the edge of His mouth. “We’re - we’re hungry, huh?”

Venom presses down against him. **“Starving”**

“Then consume me”

 

Venom really had meant to pull off Eddie’s trousers slowly, gently. But instead His claws rip the cloth to shreds, and He can’t even find it in Him to be sorry, because then Eddie is bared to Him. Naked and beautiful. His cock throbbing. He bites his lip and his eyes meet Venom’s. “Darling I - I want to belong to you”

**“You already do. All mine”**

He's pressing against Eddie now, rubbing them together, nerves all oversensitive. Precum’s leaking from the swollen head of his cock, dripping onto both of them. Venom’s looming above him, and His tongue lolls out, long enough to fall to touch him and wrap around his length, so tight and wet and hot and Eddie bucks up into it. “ _Venom_ ”, and His name is surrounded by little desperate noises.

He let's go, and Eddie gasps at the loss, but soon He lays over Him and and clutches their bodies together, pressing His mouth back to Eddie's jugular.

He feels so _good_.

Eddie’s breathing’s gone erratic and He can feel his pulse like a drumbeat all over him. Venom presses down, and his legs spread wider. Before He knows it, a slick tentacle, almost like a cock, is pressing at Eddie’s entrance.

The whole world goes still again.

He watches Eddie’s face, unsure what He’s watching for, but then He knows when He sees it.

Eddie’s eyes are soft with acceptance and desire. He _wants_ this. Venom wants him. “Oh Venom” the little thing whimpers, “Venom, my Venom, I - I… let’s… let’s b-be together?”

 **“Oh** **_Eddie_ ** **”** His teeth graze over his skin as He speaks, His tongue lazing across the plane of his chest. His skin is glowing with sweat and desire, and it’s delicious. Eddie moans, and He nuzzles his cheek with His face, and pushes into him.

He feels like He must be overflowing with ecstasy. Drowning in it.

It’s difficult to hold Himself back, but He makes sure to go slow at first. His nerves are all rotted and anyway He isn’t very good at making them on His own, but even so, everything is _bliss._ Beneath him, Eddie is shaking and moaning, and He can _tell_ it’s good for His Other too. He’s holding him tight, bruisingly tight, unable to keep claws from digging into his flesh. He bucks up against Him, his pretty little cock swollen and warm where it rubs into the oily smoke of His form, smearing them both in liquid want. **“Eddddiiiee. Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie my Eddie”**

He tries to speak, but it comes out like little broken whines and pants. It doesn’t matter, they don’t need words, especially not like this. All they need is feelings.

All they need is each other.

Venom thrusts deeper and deeper, over and over, and Eddie’s _crying_ now, but He doesn’t taste pain or fear when He kisses his cheekbones. Just the sugary-sweet perfect flavor of euphoria. It’s everywhere, growing between them, threatening to burst.

Eddie’s rutting against Him, more and more desperate. Mewling, skin on fire, and Venom can feel him tighter and tighter around His length. “Oh - oh my s-sweetheart I - I - I” and then He can almost feel the pleasure wash over him as if it were both of theirs. White-hot, overpowering. He kisses him like He wants to swallow him. He probably does. His tongue slithers down his throat, just as Eddie’s orgasm finally peaks, seed spilling down his shaft and onto his torso.

Venom keeps fucking into him, over and over. He pulls His head back to admire His precious beauty - Eddie’s face is screwed up in bliss, his whole body gone limp now, and with each thrust into him his softening member twitches. He runs His tongue over his cheek and down his neck, trails it across his torso and licks up his cum. So _satisfying_.

Even soft and spent, Eddie’s cock continues to rubs into the inky darkness spilling and touching him everywhere. He’s sore and overstimulated, practically sobbing by the time Venom’s mouth returns to his, swallowing up the sounds. He’s close too, climax building, and still He pushes deeper. Eddie’s so soft and warm, so inviting. So _human._

When it finally takes Him, Venom can’t help but to pull Eddie past the edge all over again with Him. Pleasure infecting him, tongue deep in his throat, Venom’s thick tentacle pressed against his sweet spot, and it’s like sharing one orgasm.

It’s almost _too_ much, but it isn’t, because everything they have is _perfect._ **_Eddie is perfect. And Eddie is mine_ ** **.**

 

Eddie feels boneless, practically melted into the soft little nest.

This, he thinks, is more like a religious experience than anything he’s felt in church. Just him and his monster and the sea of their want.

Venom’s face is nestled into his neck, and he kisses something like a cheekbone. “Oh honey” his breath flutters.

He’d always thought, in the brief, rare moments he’d let himself actually entertain the idea that he’d ever be intimate with… with anyone besides a woman - he’d always figured he’d be awash with self-hatred afterwords. He certainly was most of the time, and so he thought that if he ever actually allowed himself this, it’d feel like a scar after. Well, Eddie’s been wrong about things before, so what’s new? He feels… he feels _pure._ Maybe it isn’t a sin, _maybe this is how it was always meant to be._

Venom’s collapsed onto him, wrapped around him tight, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s purring, low gravelly vibrations that Eddie feels in his sternum.

 **“Eddie Eddie”** He rumbles, and he knows he’s smiling, big and dopey. **“Eddie, Eddie you taste so good now. Our - our togetherness is so** **_nourishing_ ** **”**

He barks out a shaky laugh. “Yeah?”

**“Yes, yes Eddie. So delicious”**

His brain is slowly coming out of the fog of pleasure, and his senses are beginning to register feelings beyond the glow of contentment. He realizes he’s still stuffed full of Venom’s fat, inhuman cock.

He’s not in a rush to be empty.

“So... you’re entirely satisfied? Not interested in dessert?”

 

* * *

 

 

It doesn’t actually change much, that’s the strangest thing.

Eddie’d thought, when they eventually crossed that horizon, everything would be new and different. But - but they’ve already been intimate in every other way, hearts bared for one another since the moment they came together. There’s nothing to change, really.

Well, that’s not _entirely_ true.

Now every night, Venom fucks Eddie down into the furs and blankets, or back against the wall, or into the warm water of the tub. Every night, and most mornings too. Once, they wasted ( **‘no, not wasted, Eddie, no better use of time’** ) - savoured a whole day, just lying in bed and feeding one another pleasure.

But mostly, mostly things are the same.

 

* * *

 

 

Thick fog pours through the holes in the roof, rolling over them. It’s a cold morning, a dark morning. Venom kisses Eddie’s ear as He settles down next to him, bringing an armful of rats and squirrels, already eaten dozens of each before Eddie woke.

The man skins them, drops them into the stew pot with the few shriveled carrots and beets he’s managed to grow in the barren earth under what should be the summer sun.

**“Still hungry, Eddie”**

And he knows He means it suggestively, already pulling him back to bed and into His lap, but… “my dearest, my darling” he whispers, just a ghost of a voice. The beast’s enormous form is trembling, _aching_ , Eddie thinks, _in pain._ “My Venom, let’s make the pain go away” and he wishes his kisses could be more nourishing.

 

It’s a nice way to start the day, and by the time the stew is cooked Eddie’s certainly worked up an appetite, but all he can think about is how much he hates himself for being so incapable of easing His Other’s endless suffering. Venom gives him everything, takes _care_ of him - shouldn’t he at least be able to sooth Him?

 

* * *

 

 

Eventually, he comes to this… _idea_.

 

 **“No”** Venom growls, clutching him close, coiled around like a snake. **“No Eddie, no. I -** **_please_ ** **, I cannot be away from you. Eddie - Eddie you** **_swore”_ ** He’s shaking, sorrow pouring off of Him and washing over Eddie. **“Said you’d never leave. Not letting you go - no, never, Eddie. Mine,** **_mine_ ** **”.**

His heart breaks in two. “I don’t - I don’t want to be away from you, oh Venom, I only -”

 **“Won’t let you go”** He crushes him against Himself, talons sinking in. Eddie doesn’t struggle, wouldn’t even if he could.

“I’ll be back by sundown, it’ll - it’ll only be a few hours”

 **“No!”** Eddie knows by now that Venom can’t really cry, but his head is buried in His chest, and with the shaking and the sobbing, he swears there must be tears. **“No, no, no, no no no”** until the air is filled with it, saturated in loss and hunger and the sharp pain of potential separation.

“Please” he whispers, but he’s not begging to leave. Only - “please, _please_ don’t make me watch you die”

 **“** **_Eddie_ **”

“Please, _please_ ”. Venom can’t cry, but Eddie can. “You can’t - we -”

 **“Plenty to eat, Eddie. We’ll - we’ll be** **_fine_ ** **”**

They can taste the lie in the air. “You’re _starving_ ” he simpers. “We’re - we’re going to die with this place. I can’t - _please_. I won’t be gone long. The nearest village is - it’s only a few hours journey. You don’t need to worry, my sweet. I’ll come back, you know I will. We’re all I want.” He kisses the beast’s shoulder, the angle of His jaw. “I - I won’t stay here and watch you starve”

 

Eventually, Venom stops His growling, stops all the denial ( **‘not hungry’** He’d said, and Eddie had laughed in sorrow). Let's Eddie go. Finally, He’d just begged **‘careful Eddie, please,** **_please_ ** **, be careful. Please come** **_back_ ** **’** and Eddie had sworn it over and over and over.

Now he waives to his beast as he heads out the door and down the path, into the black of the forest. When he first walked through these trees, all those months ago, he’d been terrified - thought of those stories that said the darkness watches you back. Now - now he wishes that were true.

Ten minutes in, and already the loneliness is agonizing.

 

It’s just past midday when he makes it to the nearest village - small, _too bad, that’ll make it more obvious when people go missing._

He thinks, distantly, that he should have more reservations about what he’s about to do. Lure someone back to their own slaughter. It should be horrifying, he should be ridden with guilt. But all he feels is - is _hunger._ Oh well, he was never suited to humanity, anyway. _What’s wrong with giving up a little more?_

He realizes that he doesn’t even have any idea of what day it is - entirely forgotten about concepts like ‘the week’ and ‘the passage of time’. They seem silly, now.

 

All in all, it goes better than Eddie could have imagined. He slinks along the outskirts of the little hamlet, not wanting to be noticed by anyone but his… prey. The first person he finds is a priest, and Eddie thinks that that’s just _perfect._ Something dark and - and _sinful_ coils inside him, and he’s so _hungry._  He catches the man alone, in the dusty pews, no one else here to pray. False tears on his cheeks. “Please, please _help_ me” he cries as he takes the man’s hand, falling to his knees. This is a game he knows well. “There is something - something _unholy_ ”. He’d imagined he’d have to lie, to call upon a doctor to come help a fallen traveller or advertise wares being sold one town over. But instead he just says “a demon’s taken root in my home”.

It doesn’t take long for the man to agree, to follow Eddie to cleanse his house.

He can’t wait for that to never happen.

The man’s young for his position, keeps pace with Eddie easily. “Are you - are you sure you know these woods?” he shudders as they leave sight of the village. “There is a young paladin, he could escort us -”

“It’s fine” Eddie’s working hard to keep the darkness from his voice. “There’s nothing to be afraid of”.

He misses his Other.

 

Father Bryce looks horrified as they head toward the decrepit mansion. “This - _this_ is the house in question?”

“Yes” Eddie says, urging him onward. The holy man swallows in fear. He knows he must have a crazed look on his face, but at this point, it doesn’t really matter if he flees. Eddie almost wishes he would - watching Venom hunt him down would be… _oh fuck_ that’d be delicious.

They just end up walking up to the house, but it’s alright. This was just meant to be a good meal for his darling, there’ll be plenty of time for fun and games once Venom’s fed.

“Are - are you s-s-sure…” the priest looks hesitant, Eddie motioning for him to knock on the door. “I - I think -”

And then the doors open all on their own. Eddie’s biting his lip in evident arousal, and the priest gives him a disgusted look which washes away to terror the moment he realizes he’s looking _past_ him. Past him, to where big claws are reaching out of the darkness. “Hello sweetheart”.

Now the man tries to run, but it’s much, much too late. Venom’s got him the moment he moves. Eddie falls back against the doorframe, and he should hate himself for getting hard at the sight of a beast killing a man of the clergy, but - well, it’s not like the man’s _innocent._

“He deserves this” he hears himself whisper, and his monster runs His tongue over His sharp teeth.

Venom’s ravenous, claws ripping flesh, tendons slurped up, blood splattering everywhere. Rotted fur and maggot-eaten muscle and brittle bones fall to the floor as he pours over what’s left of the man’s form, infesting him. And then He takes Eddie’s hands, motioning for him to hold them out, and suddenly Venom coughs up a _heart._

Eddie’s, in turn, flutters.

He’s so sick with it, never wants to get better.

 **“Share”** Venom grins, a claw tangling through Eddie’s hair and tugging him to look up from the organ, meet His gaze. He shouldn’t, he thinks, but when his teeth sink into it, he feels _amazing._ **“Yes Eddie, yes. Home, home now. Taste so good, come here. Come here little treasure** ” and Eddie’s dragged inside, blood on his lips. Humanity be damned.

 

“I belong here” he finds himself panting, over and over, Venom working Himself deep, so _deep_ , so _thick,_ into him. “I’ll always come back. I know my place. This is where I belong”

 

* * *

 

 

So now, whenever He gets too hungry, Eddie will venture away to beckon something to eat back to them. **‘My pretty little bait. Luring them here with your beauty. Pretty, so pretty’.**

 

Sometimes, Eddie will bring back _chocolate_ , a special treat for them. He will melt it against Eddie’s warm skin, paint it everywhere and then lap it all off.

And sometimes, Eddie will bring back more than one human, or other times he’ll come back empty-handed, just left a summons, but then a few days later whoever the note was left for will come walking up to the house. ‘Humans are so naive, so foolish’, he’d laughed, and Venom had purred in approval at him distancing of himself from that group. Eddie is His, not humanity’s.

Always, _always_ , the victims are chosen especially for their… cruelty. Before, Venom had not been picky about the human He’d consumed. Eddie was the first mortal that ever registered as different from the rest. But now, now He only wants the worst of them, and it assuages any guilt His pet feels, at his actions.

He had been worried, at first, that this new… game would cause His Eddie sorrow, that he’d feel badly about being a little bit responsible for all this death. But now his voice is sultry as he tells Him “I _want_ them to die - horrible, evil men. They only hurt others” and then Venom rips an artery from the rapist pinned beneath him.

 

Once and awhile, the people are taken from the village he had grown up in. Those are their favorites - the ones who had hurt what is His _._ The one’s who deserve to die the most, who look so _scared_ when they see Him next to Eddie.

Perfect, _perfect_ little Eddie, who kisses the viscera off of His lips.

 

Things are _good_.

 

* * *

 

 

But they were bound to go bad eventually.

 

They should have been more careful.

 

But Eddie’s on his knees, face pressed down into the pillows, Venom draped over him and thrusting in slow and deliberate. Eddie’s shaking, sobbing His name like a prayer, over and over -  and so they’re too busy to notice when a victim they’d left a note for peaks her head through the door. Sees them and _runs_ , still utterly unnoticed.  

So _distracted._

They should have been more careful.

 

And of course, it _had_ to be someone who’d flee to Eddie’s hometown, to the knights.

 

* * *

 

 

“So there really is a beast” Peter gasps as the monstrous house comes into view. Everyone halts, staring in abject horror. They can feel the darkness, seeping out from all around the path.

 

A few days ago, a woman had come into the tavern, raving of a monster, _‘a horrible creature made of shadows, devouring a man!_ ’ and then even - _‘it looked - the man looked almost like Edward Brock_ ’

Edward Brock, who had went missing months ago. And all the rumors from surrounding towns about disappearances…

So eventually some men had banded together to go find the demon and cleanse the land. Only a few of them had ever been more than a few miles outside the village, Peter’d only ever been into the woods to bring back prey for the townsfolk (always earning him praise). But there were a lot of them, and together they must be stronger than anything out there, right?

 

Now they are surrounded by darkness, and filled with fear. The castle sits up on the mountain, and the world is all silent. There is no life here, but Peter can feel a kind of - a _presence_ , as if the shadows are alive.

Calling him forward.

He’s not supposed to be afraid - he’s _supposed_ to protect the town, to be a holy knight. A - a _man_ , not some scared little thing.

Not a sinner like Brock, who must have been so easy to corrupt and consume.

“It’s time” he says. Their swords are in hand, torches lit. Justice and purity and rightness will win today, and darkness will be vanquished. “It’s time to slay the beast”

 

They expect to find the missing all dead.

And - most of them are. The place is littered with body parts, but someone’s still alive.

They watch through the windows and the cracked door - Edward Brock is there, laying in bed, the monster curled around him like a dragon might guard a pile of gold. Eddie’s nude, half asleep. It’s easy to put the scene together.

And then Eddie _kisses_ the disgusting creature. One man gags, and another wretches. “Oh Lord is he - are they…”

“I always knew Brock was a sinner, but this is beyond nauseating”

“It’s horrifying” someone hisses.

But Peter’s barely seeing Edward. His eyes follow the demon’s movements. It’s obviously painted over the body of some other creature, maybe even over a man. It’s like molten darkness, liquid sin. Where it touches Brock, horrible black tendrils spill over his skin, like a blight, like an infection. A picture of corruption, not that Eddie was ever innocent. “I’ve never seen something more disgusting in my life”

He has to protect the village, all of _humanity_ , from that monster.

It must die.

 

Peter leads the mob through the door, torches raised high overhead ( _a beast made of darkness must fear the light_ , he reasons).

Eddie’s in the beast’s lap, face nuzzled against its chest. As they come into view, the… the _couple’s_ faces fall to fear. Peter’s not sure, but he thinks he hears Edward whisper ‘no…’ tears already falling from his eyes. So weak, _fucking flower._ Clinging to his horror show. The monster grows bigger and bigger, fangs bared, wrapping around its little human.

 **“Mine mine mine mine”** it’s practically whimpering, trying to shield Brock from them.

“Kill it” Peter snarls, and everyone charges forward.

 

Things don’t - they don’t go as well as expected. The beast had looked rotted, half dead, the whole place smelling like a festering wound. Peter had thought the thing would be easy to hunt for such a hulking, horrible creature.

He was wrong.

Within mere seconds, four of the ten men are already dead. Clawed to _shreds_ , one of them devoured whole. Their swords and daggers do nothing, and with each kill the thing seems to grow stronger. _Feeding off of them. A parasite_.

 **“Stay away from him!”** the thing growls, rushing at another knight. **“Stay away!”**

The entire time, Eddie is watching from the corner, pushed back from the violence by the demon, and he reaches a hand out to it imploringly. He looks so… so _worried._

 _Like he actually has feelings for it._ Peter’s disgusted.

He lunges at the beast just as it decapitates another one of his comrades. The room doesn’t smell like decay anymore, it smells like blood. Fresh and red. He waves the torch at the monster, and it cowers away for a moment, but then he falters and the thing throws him back against the wall. Stunned, he watches it kill again.

There’s barely anyone left standing

So he does the only thing there is to do - he stalks over to Eddie. The man backs away until he’s cornered against the wall, covers his face in fear. _Always the coward._ The beast is distracted, feasting on entrails, and Peter almost feels bad about what he’s about to do, but he has no choice. Well, he doesn’t feel _that_ bad - has to make sure he tells him, before his death, “your father told us not to bring you back if we found you”.

 

He’s under that haze of **_feed feed feed_ ** , the smell of viscera everywhere, hunger satisfied just for a moment, not a thought in His head - and then He hears a _scream._

By the time He turns to look, Eddie’s on the ground, guts spilling out of him, a blade through his belly. He’s not even moving. Eyes shut… He can’t - He can’t _feel_ him…

Venom doesn’t have a heart, but it turns out he doesn’t need to for it to break.

“He’s dead” the man standing over Eddie says, voice cruel and hateful. “He’s _dead_ ” and any fight He’d had in Him is gone. Evaporated. What’s the point without His Other? Just - just _seconds_ ago Eddie’d… he was _fine_ , they were going to kill these people and eat them up and then they’d be _just fine_ and now he’s…

**_Dead. He’s dead. The only good thing in the whole world._ **

“He’s dead”

**“No… no. No. Eddie… Eddie”**

The man barks out a cruel laugh, kicks Eddie in the ribs, right next to the big ugly wound in his abdomen. Venom wants to _slaughter_ him, but suddenly He feels so pathetic _._ The man’s got _fire_ , and he’s spreading it everywhere. “What, did you think he - he cared for you?” and He feels like a sea of sorrow. “Did you think he _loved_ you?”

 **“Eddie…”** He tries to reach for him, but then the flames are there. It doesn’t matter, what’s the point in fighting now? **_Can never be whole._ **

“You are an abomination”

He’s not really _hearing_ the man, but He’s feeling the words wash over Him - pain, somehow both amorphous and sharp. He just - He just wants _Eddie_ . He wants to _hold_ him. Why - why hadn’t He kept him safe? Why couldn’t He have just done that?

“Look at you - a _parasite_ ”

 **“Eddie… Eeeddddiiee…”** The man’s lit half the house ablaze now, and the flames are licking at Him. He feels Himself being eaten away by them, growing weaker and weaker. The physical pain barely registers over the loss. He longs to be with His Other. Even - even together in death would be better than apart.

The man stands over Him now, holding out that torch. “What - no fight left?”

 **_No._ ** **“Eddie…** **_Eddie_ ** **”**

“Is that the only word you know?” Venom had realized, by now, who this man is - the holy knight His darling had told Him about, once or twice. Beloved by all, _kind and pure_ , good to everyone but Eddie. Well, everyone but them, apparently. How one person could be so good to everyone else, but so _cruel…_ does He deserve this? “Just stand still, you’ll be with Eddie soon”

The fire is everywhere. The bodies He lives on, they’re all ash now. The man raises his torch in one hand, sword in the other, and -

And his expression goes blank.

And a blade breaks through his chest.

And when he falls forward… **_Eddie_ **is there.

Venom’s overwhelmed by the relief He feels. By the… the _love._ Eddie is _alive._ Clutching intestines trying to spill out of his stomach, blood everywhere, pain on his face, but he’s _alive._ Venom can - He can _protect_ him now.

 **“Eddie… Eddie,** **_Eddie_ **” He whimpers. The burns are still everywhere. All consuming.

“V-venom”, and even his voice sounds hurt. He comes toward Him, pain evident on his face, and beneath his feet (well, his knees), the man in armor cries out. Eddie steps down harder. Venom reaches out, but He can barely _move_.

**_So weak, so pathetic. Can’t even hold my Eddie._ **

“D-darlin’... I - I - oh _Venom_ ” there's suffering in his voice, tears pouring from his eyes.

**“Eddie… Eddie… going to - to be alright. All gone, the monsters are all gone”**

He gives a soft, strained laugh, and finally they’re _close._ Close enough to touch. Eddie’s hands are soft, his touch so _soothing_ when he finally reaches Him. He’s barely got any form now, nothing but bones to cling to. Just black _ooze._

But Eddie pulls Him close, **_so sweet. Sweet as sugar._ **

“Come here” he breathes. “W-we’re - we’re together now… it’ll be alright”. He kisses Him everywhere, and just the affection alone is almost, _almost_ a kind of healing. Almost. Everything hurts. “We’ll be alright, yeah?”

 **“Can’t - can’t… it’s too** **_much_ ** **”** He feels… He feels like a _parasite_ . He’s supposed to be able to _heal_ Eddie and He can’t, **_can’t do anything._**

“Sweetheart…” and he’s covered in blood now. Face pale.

They’re… they’re going to _die._

Except then everything changes. Eddie kisses Him again, and this time he says, “I love you so much”

Eddie… Eddie _loves_ Him?

**“Eddie…”**

He winces in pain, blood dripping from his mouth now. But he strokes down Venom’s… well, it isn’t a cheek - the melted side of His face, maybe. “I always have. I love you. Let’s - let’s be together?”

 **“Eddie… Eddie if we’re - if we’re** **_close_ ** **, I won’t - I won’t know how to let you go”**

But already, the margins between them are thinning.

“Eat me up”

**“I love you”**

 

* * *

 

 

It’s the best thing Eddie’s ever felt - his Other sinking into him, flooding into all that empty space. Filling him up in a whole new way. Devouring him. He knows he should probably he scared - he’s seen what happens to Venom’s hosts. But he’s going to die all the same - wrapped up in his beloved, it seems like the best way to go. It doesn’t even hurt anymore, the wounds all healed over.

All he feels is - is _love._ Not sure if it’s his.

Like he’s feeling Venom.

**_Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie Eddie. Together forever._ **

He awash in the fluttering of a promise, something like a sunrise, but so much better. _Together forever_ … ****

He isn’t lonely anymore.

They’re… they’re finally _close_.

 

Eddie opens his eyes, and he’s _alive._

They’re alive. Together. He can _feel_ Him. His love, everywhere. So warm and right. “Venom - Venom where - what’s -”

**_We’re together now. Forever. Love, all love._ **

He watches, stunned, as tendrils coil out of his forearms. Their forearms. Darkness pouring out of his skin everywhere, forming into “Venom…”

That familiar, _beautiful_ face grinning at him, arms coming around him. Before when they’d held each other, no matter how tight, there was always this horrible _space_ between them, a yawning chasm they never seemed to be able to cross - but now, everything’s how it should be.

**_Yes Eddie. Everything’s right now. We’re whole._ **

Tears fall over his cheeks, but they aren’t sadness or pain anymore.

**“There will never be sadness or pain again”**

_I love you_ , and then they’re kissing again. Not just their lips, not just their physical body(ies?), but it’s a kind of soul-deep, existential kind of kiss Eddie hopes will never end.

 **_It won’t_ ** **.**

 

* * *

 

 

The house is destroyed, but it’s ok. Their home’s each other, now.

They lay out in the grass all night, and they aren’t cold. It’s easy to keep warm like this.

 

They’re basking in afterglow, sharing it between them. Minds all fuzzy from the all-consuming, too-big-to-fit-in-their-body, perfect perfect _perfect_ kind of pleasure. This is love, and nothing else could ever compare.

Eddie’s fingers trail over the blackness webbed across his chest tenderly. He thinks it should be overwhelmingly huge - the idea that he’ll never be alone again, not even for a second. Every heartbeat, every breath, every thought - they’ll all be shared. It just feels - it feels simple. Easy. Right. Like this is how it was always supposed to end up.

 **_Yes. You were made for us, Eddie,_ **and he can’t help the goofy grin that comes over his face at that.

 

Venom wraps Himself around His host, His _love_ . Like this, all swollen with affection and ecstasy, He’s not even _hungry._ With His Other, He could probably go _weeks_ without anything but their closeness. Well, at least a few days.

Eddie smiles, at that, and He gets secondhand feelings about the joys of sustaining one another.

 **“Still bad people we need to eat, though”** and He licks a long stripe of his cheek, tasting blush and happiness. There’s a fleeting conversation, no words but ideas - going back to his hometown, finding his _father._

A delightful little slaughter.

He feels a little bad, that He didn’t take Eddie sooner. It would have saved them a lot of pain. But it doesn’t matter now. Nothing bad matters now. They’re whole. They’re bonded for eternity. Nothing can hurt them anymore.

**_Going to give you the everything, Eddie_ **

He feels a wave of confusion at that, soft and humourous and small but - _I have everything already._ “We’re all I could ever want” But then their minds are awash with shared pictures of them, travelling the world together, seeing everything that’s ever been denied to them. Hand in hand for every step.

Eddie’s silent for a beat, even his mind falling still. But then a damn breaks, and emotions flood them. “I love you” he says, because there aren’t any other words big enough.

 **“I love you”** **_I love you I love you I love you I love you._ **

 

 

_I think we’re gonna live happily ever after_

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> *ok so i just want to say that I _don't_ hate peter, like at all. tbh peter parker is one of my fave characters, in general. but like - ooohhhh boy when he get's around symbiotes... homophobia never sleeps :/  
> anyway spoilers if what's what ur reading this bit for - he's a dick here and then he dies the end. I'm sorry baby boy rip
> 
>  
> 
> aannnyway I obviously love stories that juxtapose traditional ideas of "monstrosity" with like... actual evil and abuse. so, I figured it was about time i wrote... whatever this is.
> 
> now that this is finally done, maybe i can actually do the final project i was supposed to working on for the past two weeks  
> nah jk my procrastination made me write this not the other way around <3


End file.
